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Oil Drops to 11-Year Low Despite Tension Between Saudi Arabia, Iran

Oil prices dropped over 2% toward its 11-year low Jan. 5 as traders shrugged off growing tension between two of the world's biggest oil producers and focused on a stronger U.S. dollar and swelling U.S. crude inventories

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran collapsed in acrimony this week after the Kingdom's execution of a Shi'ite cleric set off a storm of protests in Tehran. On Jan. 5, Saudi state news agency reported that four armed men set on fire a bus transporting workers in the nation's oil-producing Eastern Province.

Instead of fanning fears of a disruption in supplies, however, some Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries delegates said the rift could exacerbate oversupply concerns by quashing already faint hope on a cut in output.

The oil market fell under additional pressure from a firmer U.S. dollar, which gained 0.5% to hit a one-month high as traders sought safer havens, and signs of a further swell in already record U.S. inventories.

Brent crude prices fell 80 cents to settle at $36.42 a barrel. Prices hit an 11-year low of $35.98 a barrel just before Christmas, capping a year where the benchmark's value dropped by more than a third.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 79 cents to settle at $35.97 a barrel.

The discount for U.S. WTI crude versus Brent widened by some 25 cents after a report that BP was planning work at a large crude unit at the 413,5000-bpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery, effectively backing more crude into the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub.